Matchmaking 101

Chapter 38- Tam

Alden pulled me aside as our carriage stopped and the door opened in front of a store that looked like it was selling a bunch of stuffy suits from the look of the window display case. I shot Keefe an extremely dirty look as I went with Alden. Fitz and Dex shot my sympathetic looks as they went into the store. 

"So, Tam isn't it?" Alden asked, looking me up and down. 

"Yes sir," I said nervously. 

"Well Tam, I just heard from Keefe that you have a crush on my daughter." 

"Yes sir," I said, trying to look straight at him and not allow myself to think about how weird the word crush sounded from Alden's prim accent. I honestly hoped that Alden wasn't trying to read my mind right that moment. 

"Hmmmmmm," Alden said, stroking his chin like he had a beard, but it looked sort of strange, seeing that he didn't actually have a beard. "I assume you are planning on asking for her hand at the Winnowing Gala?" 

"If she takes me, then yes sir," I say. I really hoped that this conversation would end soon, because it was getting sort of uncomfortable. Then, I saw that from behind Alden, Fitz, Dex and Keefe were watching, wide-eyed like this was a dramatic scene from one of those human movies Sophie watched or something. 

Keefe noticed that I had noticed them, and he elbowed Fitz and Dex and pointed at me. Then, Keefe began to imitate every move Alden was doing. His lips moved in perfect sync with Alden's and his finger raised at the same time Alden's did and I swore Alden's voice was coming out of his mouth too. Then, he began to do weird stuff, like wiggle his butt and act like a strange constipated duck. 

It was annoying, but I admit, it did help lessen the amount of awkwardness of the lecture. I began to focus on Keefe, Fitz and Dex instead of Alden, and I had to hold back a laugh when Dex slapped Keefe over the head and Fitz gestured toward two girls who were staring at him with an extremely confused expression. The two girls quickly turned around and pretended they weren't staring and walked away quickly. 

I snapped back into focus as Alden stopped talking and raised an eyebrow at me. "Do you understand Tam?" 

"Yes sir," I said quickly, glad to be done with the lecture. 

"Very well. Come on boys!" Alden called out at Fitz and Dex, who were now watching as Keefe entertained the passerby by doing a very good dinosaur impression. They quickly straightened up, and pretended that they hadn't done anything weird at all. I'm pretty sure Alden wasn't fooled though, I mean, Fitz is his son, and Keefe is Fitz's best friend. 

When we walked into the store, a bell rang and a man wearing the workers suit with blond hair and annoyingly bright blue eyes walked up to us, and gasped when he saw Alden and Fitz. 

"Oh my goodness, it's the Vackers! I've always dreamed of meeting you guys! My daughter, she's around your son's age, is on his list! Her name is Jessalyn Gardiner, and she was so excited when she got you on her list! You were number 90 on her list and she's so excited to attend! You guys can have the free choice of suits!" he giggled in such an un-manly way, that I did a double take. Was I talking to a grown man, or a five-year old? 

Then, he turned to Keefe and gasped again. "Young Lord Sencen, I knew your father! We were friends in school, and I'm so excited that his son is here today! Please tell your dad I send my warmest welcomes to him and Gisela! Oh, you must be so lucky to have such an amazing man as your dad..." 

As he rambled on, I raised an eyebrow at Dex. He walked up to me from behind Alden and said, "What are we, statues? Life size human figurines? I mean he's literally ignoring us." 

Then, as the annoying man continued rambling on, Fitz, Keefe, Dex and I all exchanged annoyed looks. Alden looked like he was still listening, but just to be polite, and that he secretly just wanted to get out of there. 

I thought the man would never stop talking, his voice getting higher pitched and even more excited as he kept talking. He was now making huge gestures, waving his arms around frantically in crazy movements. 

"Um, Dad? Are you ok? Why are you bothering the customers?" 

We all did a double take as a girl, around our age stepped up besides her Dad. Oh god, I felt bad for her to have such a baby as a father. Then, I actually noticed the girl, and I realized why Dex and Fitz's eyes had went so huge. 

She was beautiful, even by elvin standards, and had the tough, tech savvy, hard work ethic look about her, like she worked a lot. Her tanned hand was propped on her curved hips, and her other wheeling a rack of suits and ties. Her long, silk-like dark brown hair had golden tips, just like my silver ones on my bangs. It was pulled up in a high ponytail and her eyes reminded me of the deep ocean, mysterious and beautiful, framed by long dark lashes. A clipboard was propped on her knee, and she was somehow balancing a pencil on it and standing on one leg, checking off orders. 

Her Dad elbowed her excitedly and Fitz and Dex seemed to snap out of their trance, but they still watched her every move. I had to admit, that she was gorgeous and seemed really cool, and her eyes were just.....amazing. There was no sign of the man's annoyingly bright eyes, and strangely shiny blond hair in his daughter. "Jessalyn be polite! We have very special guests here!" the man said in a giddy voice. 

Jessalyn looked up, and quickly scanned us all in an uninterested way. "Hey. Welcome to the store, if you have any questions, please check at the front desk where our workers work very hard to keep the Suit Up store running at a good pace for all customers." She had already stopped looking at us, and had returned to scribbling things on the clipboard, still reciting what the employees must had to recite in a monotone voice. "We have all types of suits here, and we will do our best to assist you in your searches for the perfect suit for you. Welcome to Suit Up, my name is Jessalyn Gardiner, how may I help you?" 

She finally looked up at us and looked at us carefully. She did a double-take when she saw Fitz and Keefe and nearly dropped her pencil, before sticking it in her mouth and desperately trying to readjust her employee uniform which was crinkled, dropping her clipboard in the process.  Dex and Fitz did a strange dive toward it, and I had to resist the urge to do it too. 

Dex got it and quickly handed it back to Jessalyn, trying to hide that he was panting. Fitz quickly made it look like the gesture was him trying to adjust his boot. "Hey. Sorry about that, I was busy checking some orders... So do you need help finding a suit?" 

"Ummm, yeah," Keefe said, staring at the three of us strangely, like he knew what was going on. "I'm Keefe Sencen. Your Jessalyn right?" 

"Yup," she said, looking at me with her ocean eyes. I couldn't help but look back. "Let's see," she said, tapping her chin with the pencil and looking at us. "You're Keefe, and you're Fitz I know that. Oh, and you're Dex Dizznee aren't you? Your dad owns Slurps and Burps, doesn't he? That's where I get the stuff to dye my hair," she gestured toward the golden tips. Then, she looked at me and I tried not to seem nervous. "I don't know you. Do you go to Foxfire?" 

"Um, yeah I just transferred," I said. Please don't ask from where, I privately thought. 

"Oh, that makes sense, that's probably why I don't know you. What's your name?" 

"Oh, um, I'm Tam. Tam Song." 

"Song? Aren't you like, really smart? I swear I saw your name on the top students list for entrance exams ever in the Foxfire records. I usually help out there to help organize stuff." 

"Oh yeah, that's probably me." 

"That's so cool!" she said, looking at me with awe in her face. I couldn't stop staring at her eyes. "I'm Jessalyn if you didn't know. We're probably in the same year, are we not? I swear I think I saw you in the halls. I mean, who could forget that cool hair?" she gestured to my bangs. 

"Oh probably. I mean, your hair is really cool too." I said lamely. 

"Thanks," she said, giggling. It seemed like it was't something she did often, as she quickly shook her head a little and seemed a bit embarrassed by herself. Straightening up, she gestured to us to follow her. "Come on, the suits are this way." 

We followed her, and I swore I saw her turn her head and wink at me from the front of the hall. I hope I didn't, but I think I might have smiled back.